BBVA

Groupe BPCE and BNP Paribas issued green bonds this week, attracting strong levels of demand for such a late stage in the year.

Merlin Properties, the Spanish real estate investment trust, launched on Wednesday a €500m no-grow 15 year benchmark bond, rated Baa2/BBB, with a positive outlook from S&P Global.

Spain’s FCC Servicios Medio Ambiente and Deutsche Telekom raised euro bonds on Wednesday, in what corporate bond bankers reckoned was the last clear issuance window of the year.

Intesa Sanpaolo and BNP Paribas hurried to make use of strong market conditions this week, building blowout order books for a pair of new senior deals in socially responsible formats.

The euro corporate bond new issue market was full of smaller deals on Tuesday, for Japan Tobacco, Hitachi and Naturgy, but investors were preparing for the onslaught of jumbo transactions which they knew were coming on Wednesday and Thursday.

Three companies piled into the euro bond market on Monday, but the deals drew mixed reactions. Two standard investment grade issues from LafargeHolcim and Ford Motor Credit appeared to fare better than a rare green hybrid from Citycon paying a juicy yield.

BBVA and DNB Bank were both looking to build towards their minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) in the euro market on Thursday, eschewing non-preferred senior issuance in favour of the cheaper preferred senior format.

The first tier two from Spain’s Unicaja Banco was more than three times subscribed this week after it entered a strong new issue market. It appeared alongside ING, which paid a slim 5bp premium to print a deal in the same asset class.

Dufry, the world’s largest travel retailer, issued €750m of senior unsecured notes on Wednesday to buy back its outstanding €700m of 4.5% notes, due in 2023, and pay back a small slice of its revolver.

Europe's high grade corporate bond new issue market has opened the week smartly, with almost €2bn of debt raised, as borrowers nip into the market before earnings blackouts interrupt new issuance.

Finland’s Mesto has signed €800m of revolving credit facility, as the industrial machinery company builds up its cash war chest in preparation for its partial demerger.

Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets was marketing its first senior unsecured bond in euros on Friday, taking advantage of a quiet primary market. The issue gave investors a ‘healthy’ new issue premium, according to a FIG banker.